Assessment of nutritional status of gynecological cancer cases in India and comparison of subjective and objective nutrition assessment parameters

Abstract

Aim: To assess the nutritional status of gynecological cancer patients using scored Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) then compare it with the body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin, serum albumin, and approximate percentage weight lost in last 1 month so as to find any one parameter that can be used in place of the comprehensive assessment tool. Materials and Methods: Sixty gynecological cancer patients were assessed for their nutritional status using BMI, serum albumin, hemoglobin, percentage weight lost in last 1 month, and scored PG-SGA. Correlation, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the former four parameters compared to scored PG-SGA were calculated. Results: 88.33% of cases were at risk of or had some degree of malnutrition according to scored PG-SGA. Serum albumin level ≤ 2 g/dl had highest specificity and positive predictive value at 1, whereas percentage weight lost in last month had better overall sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 0.5833, 0.9444, 0.875, and 0.7727, respectively. The Pearson′s correlation coefficient between scored PG-SGA and percentage weight lost in last 1 month was 0.784, highest among all the parameters. Conclusion: 88.33% of gynecologic cancer cases had some degree of malnutrition or were at risk of malnutrition. Approximate percentage weight lost in last 1 month, that is, ≥ 5% may be used in place of the comprehensive scored PG-SGA to triage the patients in case the latter is not used for some reason. Severe hypoalbuminemia ≤ 2 g/dl is an indicator of severe malnutrition in gynecologic cancer cases. © 2014. The South Asian Journal of Cancer.